UK: statements of capital under the Companies Act (2006) - BIS consultation

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has published a consultation paper concerning the financial information required in statements of capital under the Companies Act (2006). The consultation highlights problems with the current requirements - some of which were highlighted by ICSA earlier this year - and sets out a proposed response involving changes in the Act which BIS believes would simply the information required and avoid the need to disaggregate any information below the level of class of share.

UK: statements of capital under the Companies Act (2006)

ICSA has published a guidance note dealing with statements of capital under the Companies Act (2006). The note explains how companies can deal with the requirement to disclose the amount paid up and the amount unpaid (if any) on each share. The guidance note explains:

Companies with a simple share history are unlikely to experience any problem in completing the requirement for the amounts paid up on each share. Many older and/or larger companies will not have tracked share premium on a per share basis; in addition, where the share premium account has been used, e.g. on a reduction, there is no requirement to attribute this use to particular shares. For these reasons, it may therefore be difficult or impossible for some companies to provide a single amount per share as the amount paid up on all the shares in a particular class of shares.

The Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) will, in the longer term, review whether a change to Companies House forms or the Companies Act 2006 is necessary. In the meantime, as stated in its FAQ on this subject on the BIS website, BIS has confirmed that companies will have to do what they can to complete this element of the statement of capital. There is a recognition by BIS that companies will have to ‘provide numbers ... that provide a pragmatic allocation of their share premium reserve between shares or classes of shares'".

Note: the guidance note is available to view free of charge but some personal information must be provided in order to do so.